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Soy

There are hundreds of different soy products on the market these days, but when it comes to nutrients and health-promoting qualities: Not all Soy Products are the same!

Some soy products are far better for you than others.

Here’s a list of products I recommend:

1) Edamame-

Who ever told you Edamame was bad for you was wrong! It provides fiber, helps reduce heart disease, and cancer.

2) Tempeh-

Temph is a traditional Asian and Indonesian food. It’s a cultured soy cake that sometimes has other grains or spices added to it. You can cook it lots of different ways!

3) Tofu–

Tofu is made from soybeans milk curd and looks a bit like cheese! Don’t be afraid of it though. It’s very mild in flavor but you can spice it up any way you’d like.

4) Miso–

Miso is a fermented soybean paste that you add to water to make miso soup! (This can be easy added to your daily routine when you get hungry in the afternoon! It’s a perfect snack because it’s not too heavy but contains lots of nutritious ingredients.)

5) Natto-

Looks like re-fried beans!

This is only for the brave! Natto is a fermented form of soy popular in Japan. It has a very strong smell and taste. Not my favorite way to add soy into my diet but it’s out there!

Notice all my suggestions are soy in it’s natural not processed form. Watch out for the products out there that ‘contain soy.’

Now I bet your wondering- How much SOY should I consume every day to help lower my risk of breast cancer? Experts suggest 4-12 ounces.

Research shows that Asian women have only 1/3-1/2 the breast cancer risk of American women, and their regular use of soy may be part of the reason.

Women with breast cancer often have tumors that are “estrogen receptive,” meaning they contain cells called estrogen receptors that grow when stimulated by estrogen.

Soy is a plant estrogen classified as a phytoestrogen. Estrogen’s come in different strengths and behave differently. Strong estrogens increase your risk of cancer because they tell cells to grow and divide rapidly. Phytoestrogens and other weak estrogen’s decrease your risk of cancer because they slow down cell division.

‘Think of it this way: An estrogen molecule is like a jumbo jet that attaches to the Jetway of an airport. It discharges passengers into the terminal, which is suddenly a busy, noisy place. Phytoestrogens, being weak estrogens, are like small, private planes with few passengers and no cargo, yet they still occupy the Jetway after landing. When phytoestrogens occupy the cell, normal estrogens cannot.’

Eating Soy will help these Plant estrogens bind to the cells and reduce estrogen’s effects which will in-turn reducing breast cancer risk.

As I mentioned in my Previous Post: ‘To eat Soy, or Not to eat Soy: That is the Question’ there has been a lot of debate on whether or not Soy is good for us.

In it’s Natural State soy is amazing for our bodies!

Soy has been a food staple in Asian diets for thousands of years. Research shows that Asian countries have far lower rates of cancer than the Unites States. According to many studies, if you eat an adequate amount of soy often enough, your risk of breast cancer will drop by 30-50%. A study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 2003 found that women who ate 3 bowls of miso soup a day had a 40% lower risk of breast cancer. (Miso soup is an easy and great snack or addition to your meals every day!)

Genistein (which I mentioned in my previous post) appears to be one of the most important components of Soy.

Genistein is classified as a phytoestrogen because it has a weak estrogenic effect. Research shows that Genistein mixed with other nutrients in Soy is extraordinarily effective at reducing the risk of breast cancer. It has been shown to stop tumor growth, prevent metastasis, and shut off new blood vessels in growing tumors.

Genistein blocks the cancer promoting estrogens from attaching to the estrogen receptors on breast cells. Breast cancer is a hormonal disease (which means a hormone causes the cancer to develop by inciting cells to grow and divide.) For breast Cancer, the hormone is estrogen and the more estrogen you are exposed to increase your odds of getting breast cancer.

In addition to the Cancer fighting benefits from Soybeans it is also a complete protein and a rich source of calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, B vitamins, omega 3 fatty acids and fiber.

Stay tuned for more information on Soy/Breast Cancer and which Soy products are better than others!

For the next 2 weeks I will be talking about an issue that I’m constantly being asked about by clients and friends.

Is Soy good for me?!

The quick response is Yes- but only in it’s original form.

Let’s dig deeper though…

In the past 20 years there has been an incredible boom in the popularity of soy foods. From 1992 to 2011 the industry has grown from $300 million to $4 billion in sales. This dramatic increase can be attributed to Soy products being promoted as a healthy and complete protein (meaning it contains all the amino acids that our bodies cannot make on their own.)

Soy has been consumed for thousands of years in Eastern Asia. It is incredibly versatile, and can be consumed in its unprocessed form as edamame; fermented into soy sauce, miso,natto, or tempeh.

But like most health trends, there has also been a lot of negative coverage and effects of Soy in our diets. This trend started from a Study by The University of California, San Francisco in 1996. In this study, women were given 36 grams of Genistein, an isoflavone phytoestrogen derived from soybeans, every day for a year. These women were not given genistein as it occurs naturally in whole soy foods (I will explain the benefits of this in my next post!)

So instead of having protective effects the extracted and isolated Genistein supplement appeared to be harmful. The women had elevated amounts of estradiol in their blood and their breast cells showed signs of increased growth.

The problem with this study was that these women were not given Soy in it’s natural state! They were given an isolate of genistein which doesn’t occur naturally in Nature. When you isolate a substance from the whole the isolate often behaves differently. Our bodies are designed to eat, digest, and metabolize fresh whole foods which contain thousands of substances all interacting with each other. When Genistein is consumed in it’s pure form it does not have the same effect on the body as when it’s consumed in Soy along with it’s hundreds of other nutrients.

Comsuming Soy in it’s unprocessed form (edamame; fermented into soy sauce, miso,natto, or tempeh) can have a positive effect on your breast and overall health!

Stay tuned to learn exactly WHY Soy (along with Geinstein) are good for you!